Telephone speech control system, intermediate processing device, and exchange

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a telephone voice control system capable of reducing the load on an application program in CTI technology to enable loading of the application program. This system is furnished with an intermediate processing unit (middleware) and an application program. The intermediate processing unit is provided with a call processing part  104,  a voice data processing part  106,  a status management part  105  for maintaining the status of the call processing part and the voice data processing part, and a control part  103  for controlling the call processing part and the voice data processing part. The application program sends a request to the intermediate processing unit. In operation, the control part compares a state enough to execute the request from the application program with the status maintained by the status management part, and if both disaccord, requests the call processing part and the voice processing part to perform processing for matching both states with each other. In this case, the application program has only to issue the same voice playback or recording request to the intermediate processing unit anytime without the need to manage the call connected, the connected state of a voice data path and the like.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a telephone voice control system forrecording and storing a telephone call as data, while sending the storeddata to a corresponding telephone and playback the telephone call.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, a technology, called CTI (computer telephony integration), forcontrol of telephone features on a personal computer has been developed,and voice mail systems for recording an entire telephone call andstoring the same as data have been put to practical use. One form of thevoice mail systems is disclosed in Japanese patent unexaminedpublication No. Hei 08-032618.

FIG. 31 shows a configuration of a conventional telephone voice controlsystem. This system includes an exchange 108 connected to a telephoneterminal 113 through a telephone network 112 and a personal computerconnected to the exchange 108 via a LAN. The personal computer hasconnections to a call processing part 104 for monitoring a callconnected, a voice data processing part 106 for processing voice data, avoice data storage part 107, including an application program 101 forcontrolling these parts. The exchange 108 is provided with a circuitswitching part 111, a call control interface part 109 and a voiceinterface part 110. The circuit switching part 111 is connected to thetelephone network 112 to carry out circuit switching. The call controlinterface part 109 transmits call connected information to the callprocessing part 104. The voice interface part 110 transfers voice datato the voice data processing part 106.

In this system, the application program 101 manages, through the callprocessing part 104 and the voice data processing part 106, the callconnected and the connected state in a voice data path. Suppose thatinformation on the call connected is sent to the call processing part104 from the call control interface part 109 of the exchange 108. Inthis case, voice data transferred from the voice interface part 110 ispulled up or fetched through the voice data processing part 106 andstored in the voice storage unit 107.

Since the voice data is transferred via the LAN and recorded in thevoice storage unit 107, this system can record reams of data compared tothe conventional systems in which voice is recorded on a recordingmedium placed in the exchange 108.

It is also assumed in this system that when a user of the telephoneterminal 113 calls a user of an extension telephone housed in theexchange 108 but the user of the extension telephone is out, anotherperson may answer the telephone for the calling partner. In this case,the call is processed as follows: first, the person who answered thetelephone records the entire telephone call or conversation with thecaller to register the same in the voice storage unit 107 as voice data.Next, the user who was out then connects the extension telephone or thetelephone terminal 113 to the exchange 108 to get and listen to thecontents of the telephone call or conversation from the voice storageunit 107.

If plural pieces of voice data are stored in the voice storage unit 107,the user who was out then may use such a method as to listen to thevoice data in order of transmission from the voice storage unit 107 tothe exchange 108. Alternatively, the user may select and listen to adesired piece or pieces of voice data through pushbutton dialingoperations in accordance with voice messages from the exchange 108.

Thus the user concerned (hereinafter called the person in charge) canget and listen to the voice data stored in the voice storage unit 107.

The conventional voice control system, however, makes processing managedby the application program complicated and applies heavy load to thesystem, which makes it difficult to load the application program.

For example, the application program has to keep monitoring a call formanaging the call connected, because the call could be originated at anytime. Then the application program has to perform processing suitablefor the call as soon as the call is originated. The processing for suchan asynchronous event makes the application program complicated,compared to such a case that processing is triggered by pushing a buttonor making a selection on the screen so that the results will berepeated. The complicated structure makes it difficult to program andload the application program.

Further, in the voice data processing, the application program has topick up and transfer 64 kbps uncompressed voice data to the voicestorage unit 107 constantly as long as the telephone call continues,which prolongs a heavy loaded state of the application program.

Furthermore, the conventional telephone voice control system does nothave a mode for providing information addressed to the person in chargewithout delay in response to a request from the person in charge forproviding the voice data stored.

Suppose that a user uses a telephone terminal or extension telephoneconnected to the telephone network, or a multi-functional terminalconnected to a radiotelephone network having data communication andtelephone features. Suppose further that the user gets a desired pieceof voice data from among plural pieces of voice data stored in the voicestorage unit or the like. In this case, the user has to select thedesired piece of voice data through pushbutton dialing operations or thelike in accordance with voice messages form the exchange, which makes itimpossible for the user to get and listen to the desired voice data assoon as the connection is established.

Furthermore, while a telephone call is in progress between a generaltelephone terminal and an extension telephone terminal, a user of thegeneral telephone terminal cannot listen to the voice stored in thevoice storage unit

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentionedconventional problems. It is an object of the preset invention toprovide a telephone voice control system, capable of reducing the loadon an application program in CTI technology to enable loading of theapplication program while providing stored voice information to theperson in charge without delay.

In the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided atelephone voice control system, which includes an intermediateprocessing unit and an application program. The intermediate processingunit is provided with a call processing part, a voice data processingpart, a status management part for maintaining the status of the callprocessing part and the voice data processing part, and a control partfor controlling the call processing part and the voice data processingpart. The application program sends a request to the intermediateprocessing unit. In operation, the control part of the intermediateprocessing unit compares a state enough to execute the request from theapplication program with the state maintained by the status managementpart. If both disaccord, the control part requests the call processingpart and the voice data processing part to perform processing formatching both states with each other.

In this case, the application program has only to issue the same voiceplayback or recording request to the intermediate processing unit(middleware) at any time without the need to manage the call connected,the connected state of a voice data path and transmission control.

In the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided atelephone voice control system, which includes a multi-functionalterminal, an information notification unit, a circuit switching unit ofan exchange, a voice storage unit and an application program. Themulti-functional terminal includes a data communication terminal partconnected to a data network and a telephone terminal part connected to atelephone network. The information notification unit notifiesinformation to the data network. The circuit switching unit obtains acaller number from the telephone network upon arrival of a call. Thevoice storage unit stores therein voice data received via the exchange.The application program controls storage and reading of the voice datainto and from the voice storage unit. In operation, the informationnotification unit notifies the data network of the information requestedby the application program. Then, when the multi-functional terminalthat has obtained the information through the data network requestsvoice data from the exchange through the telephone network, the voicedata is selected from among voice data stored in the voice storage unitaccording to the caller number obtained at the circuit switching unit sothat the voice data will be provided to the multi-functional terminal.

In this case, the voice stored in the voice storage unit can be playedback without delay on the multi-functional terminal that includes thedata communication terminal part connected to the data network and thetelephone terminal part connected to the telephone network.

In the third aspect of the present invention, when a new call startsbetween a general telephone terminal and an extension telephone terminaland voice data on the call is registered after the multi-functionalterminal is notified that first voice data has been stored in the voicestorage apparatus and before the multi-functional terminal is connectedto the exchange for getting and listening to the voice data, aone-to-one correspondence among the caller number of themulti-functional terminal, the first voice data stored in the voicestorage apparatus, and voice data registered after registration of thefirst voice data are maintained.

In this case, when a user of the multi-functional terminal connects theterminal to the exchange for getting the voice data, the user can listento all of the first voice data stored in the voice storage apparatus andthe voice data registered after registration of the first voice data.

In the fourth aspect of the present invention, the voice storageapparatus obtains and transmits to the exchange voice data specifiedfrom among plural pieces of voice data stored therein during suchoperation that the multi-functional terminal is connected to theexchange for listening to the voice data.

Thus the user of the multi-functional terminal can listen to the voicedata specified from among plural pieces of voice data stored in thevoice storage apparatus.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, the voice storageapparatus presents, to the multi-functional terminal, the display of alist of plural pieces of voice data stored therein, obtains voice dataspecified from the display of the list on the multi-functional terminalin order of specification, and transmits the obtained voice data to theexchange.

Thus the user of the multi-functional terminal can refer to the displayof the list of the plural pieces of voice data stored in the voicestorage apparatus to listen to the user's favorite voice data in orderof specification.

In the sixth aspect of the present invention, the voice storage unitpresents, to the multi-functional terminal, the display of a list ofplural pieces of voice data stored therein, so that when the number ofpieces of voice data specified from the display of the list on themulti-functional terminal is less than the number of pieces of voicedata stored in the voice storage apparatus, the voice data storageapparatus obtains the voice data, specified from the display of the liston the multi-functional terminal, in order of specification, and thenvoice data that have not been specified, and transmits all the obtainedvoice data to the exchange.

Thus the user of the multi-functional terminal can refer to the displayof the list of the plural pieces of voice data stored in the voicestorage apparatus to specify voice data which the user wants to listento earlier.

In the seventh aspect of the present invention, the exchange furtherincludes circuit switching control means for connecting the generaltelephone terminal with the voice transmission/reception means while atelephone call between the general telephone terminal and the extensiontelephone terminal is in progress.

Thus the user of the general telephone terminal can listen to voice datastored in the voice storage apparatus while the telephone call betweenthe general telephone terminal and the extension telephone terminal isin progress.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a telephone voicecontrol system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the telephonevoice control system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing for storing calling or talkingvoice in the telephone voice control system according to the firstembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing for playing back the voice inthe telephone voice control system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a modification of the telephone voicecontrol system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a telephone voicecontrol system according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the telephone voicecontrol system according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a telephone voicecontrol system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an exchangeaccording to the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a voice storageapparatus according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the telephone voicecontrol system according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a signaling diagram of the telephone voice control systemaccording to the third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a signaling diagram of the telephone voice control systemaccording to the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a format indicative of a call recording-startrequest in the telephone voice control system according to the thirdembodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a concept of voice storage notification inthe telephone voice control system according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a format indicative of a playback start requestin the telephone voice control system according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram of data structure of caller number storage means inthe telephone voice control system according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an exchangeaccording to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a concept of voice storage notification ina telephone voice control system according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a format indicative of a playback start requestin the telephone voice control system according to the fourthembodiment.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a voice storageapparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a concept of voice storage notification ina telephone voice control system according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing the operation of the telephone voicecontrol system according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a signaling diagram of the telephone voice control systemaccording to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a diagram of data structure of caller number storage means inthe telephone voice control system according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing a configuration of circuit switchingmeans according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing the operation of a telephone voicecontrol system according to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a signaling diagram of the telephone voice control systemaccording to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a connected state of the circuitswitching means according to the sixth embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing another connected state of thecircuit switching means according to the sixth embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram showing a conventional telephone voicecontrol system.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinbelow, embodiments of the present invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that thepresent invention is not limited to the following embodiments andvarious other modes are possible without departing the spirit and scopeof the present invention.

(First Embodiment)

As shown in FIG. 1, a telephone voice control system according to thefirst embodiment includes an exchange 108, an intermediate processingunit (middleware) 102, a voice storage unit 107 for storing voice dataand an application program. The exchange 108 is connected to a telephoneterminal 113 through a telephone network 112. The intermediateprocessing unit 102 prepares various functions for call processing andvoice processing. The voice storage unit 107 stores voice data therein.The application program controls the call processing and the voiceprocessing via the intermediate processing unit 102.

The circuit switching apparatus (also called the exchange) 108 isprovided with a circuit switching part 111, a call control interfacepart 109 and a voice interface part 110. The circuit switching part 111is connected to the telephone network 112 to carry out circuitswitching. The call control interface part 109 transmits call connectedinformation to the intermediate processing unit 102. The voice interfacepart 110 transfers voice data to the intermediate processing unit 102.

The intermediate processing unit 102 is provided with a call processingpart 104, a voice data interface part 106, a status management part 105and a control part 103. The call processing part 104 is connected to thecall control interface part 109 to monitor a call connected. The voicedata processing part 106 is connected to the voice interface part 110 toprocess voice data. The status management part 105 manages the status ofthe call processing part 104 and the voice data processing unit 106. Thecontrol part 103 compares a state requested by the application program101 with the state managed by the status management part 105. If bothdisaccord, the control part requests the call processing part 104 andthe voice data processing part 106 to perform processing for matchingboth states with each other.

The intermediate processing unit (middleware) 102 is software programmedby a manufacturer so that the application will be given moresophisticated and specific features than the OS. The software hasfeatures adapted to various states of call processing and voiceprocessing. The application program 101 outputs, to the intermediateprocessing unit (middleware) 102, commands for requesting processingsuch as a call recording request and a playback request. Theintermediate processing unit 102 assesses a situation, performsprocessing according to the situation so that a request from theapplication program 101 will be realized. Then the intermediateprocessing unit 102 sends the processing results back to the applicationprogram 101.

FIG. 2 shows a hardware configuration of the telephone voice controlsystem according to the first embodiment. A private branch exchange(PBX) 8 is provided with a line connection part 86, a telephone controlpart 85, a CTI interface 82 and a central processing unit 81. The lineconnection part 86 is connected to a telephone network 88. The telephonecontrol part 85 is connected to a telephone 87 to control switchingoperations. The CTI interface 82 is connected to a personal computer 1through a LAN (Ethernet) 2. The central processing unit 85 controls theoperation of the entire PBX. The CTI interface 82 includes a callprocessing interface 83 and a voice interface 84; it is constructed inthe form of a board having a LAN 2 port and mounted in the PBX 8.

On the other hand, an exchange control part 11, a call processinginterface 12, a voice interface 13, middleware 14, and an applicationprogram 15 are mounted in the personal computer 1. The exchange controlpart 11 controls exchange of call processing commands with the PBX 8.The call processing interface 12 converts the commands exchanged withthe PBX 8 into a set of commands of the application. The voice interface13 exchanges voice processing commands.

The commands and voice data from the CTI interface 82 of the PBX 8 areoutput to the LAN 2 as IP packets with IP addresses attached thereto Thecall processing data are received at the exchange control part 11, whilethe voice related data are received at the voice interface 13.

Referring next to FIGS. 1 and 3, description will be made aboutprocessing for recording calling or talking voice from the telephoneterminal 113 and storing the same as data in response to a request fromthe application program 101.

Step 301: The application program 101 sends a call recording request tothe control part 103 of the intermediate processing unit 102.

Step 302: The control part 103 obtains the state of the voice dataprocessing part 106 from the status management part 105.

Step 303: It is determined on the basis of the state obtained in step302 whether the voice data processing part 106 and the voice interfacepart 110 is currently connected through a connection path (voice path).If they are currently connected, the processing procedure goes to step307, while if they are not connected, the processing procedure goes tostep 304.

Step 304: The control part 103 instructs the voice data processing part106 and the voice interface part 110 of the exchange 108 to establish aconnection therebetween.

Step 305: The voice interface part 110 notifies the voice dataprocessing part 106 of the intermediate processing unit 102 that theconnection between the voice data processing part 106 and the voiceinterface part 110 of the exchange 108 has been completed.

Step 306: The voice data processing part 106 notifies the statusmanagement part 105 of the completion of the connection. Then the statusmanagement part 105 notifies the control part 103 of the completion ofthe connection.

Step 307: The control part 103 instructs the voice data processing part106 to record the call. Then the voice data processing part 106 requeststhe circuit switching part 111 to transmit calling or talking voice datathrough the voice interface part 110 of the exchange 108.

Step 308: The circuit switching part 111 transmits the calling ortalking voice data to the voice data processing part 106 through thevoice interface part 110 of the exchange 108.

Step 309: The voice data processing part 106 stores the calling ortalking voice data in the voice storage unit 107.

Thus the application program has only to issue a talking voice recordingrequest so as to perform desired processing without the need to managetransmission control of the voice data.

Referring next to FIGS. 1 and 4, description will be made aboutprocessing for reproducing voice data stored in the voice storage unit107 in response to a request from the application program 101.

Step 201: The application program 101 sends a voice data reproductionrequest to the control part 103 of the intermediate processing part 102.

Step 202: The control part 103 obtains the state of the call processingpart from the status management part 105.

Step 203: It is determined on the basis of the state obtained in step202 whether the call is in progress. If the call is in progress, theprocessing procedure goes to step 207, while if the call is not inprogress, the processing procedure goes to step 204.

Step 204: The control part 103 instructs the circuit switching part 111through the call processing part 104 and the call interface part 109 ofthe exchange 108 to establish a connection with the telephone terminal113 via the telephone network 112.

Step 205: The circuit switching part 111 notifies the call processingpart 104 of the intermediate processing unit 102 through the callcontrol interface part 109 that the connection with the telephoneterminal 113 has been established via the telephone network 112.

Step 206: The call processing part 104 notifies the status managementpart 105 of the completion of the connection. Then the status managementpart 105 notifies the control part 103 of the completion of theconnection.

Step 207: The control part 103 obtains the state of the voice dataprocessing part 106 from the status management part 105.

Step 208: It is determined on the basis of the state obtained in step207 whether the voice data processing part 106 and the voice interfacepart 110 are currently connected through the connection path (voicepath). If they are currently connected, the processing procedure goes tostep 212, while if they are not connected, the processing procedure goesto step 209.

Step 209: The control part 103 instructs the voice data processing part106 and the voice interface part 110 of the exchange 108 to establish aconnection therebetween.

Step 210: The voice interface part 109 notifies the voice dataprocessing part 106 of the intermediate processing unit 102 that theconnection between the voice data processing part 106 and the voiceinterface part 110 of the exchange 108 has been established.

Step 211: The voice data processing part 106 notifies the statusmanagement part 1OS of the completion of the connection. Then the statusmanagement part 105 notifies the control part 103 of the completion ofthe connection.

Step 212: The control part 103 instructs the voice data processing part106 to send voice data. Then the voice data processing part 106 obtainsthe voice data from the voice storage unit 107 and sends the same to thecircuit switching part 111 through the voice interface part 110 of theexchange 108.

Step 213: The circuit switching part 111 sends the voice to thetelephone terminal 113 via the telephone network 112 so that the voicewill be played back on the telephone terminal 113.

Thus the application program has only to issue the same voice playbackrequest to establish a required connection and play back the voice atany time without the need to manage the call connected and the connectedstate of a voice data path.

Suppose that a call between the telephone terminal 113 and a telephoneterminal housed in the exchange 108 is recorded as voice data, or thevoice data is reproduced on the telephone terminal 113 or the telephoneterminal housed in the exchange 108. In this case, the applicationprogram 101 has only to make a call recording or playback request to theintermediate processing unit 102 without the need to take into accountthe state of the entire telephone voice control system. Therefore, thestructure of the application program 101 can be simplified.

This is because the intermediate processing unit 102 takes account ofthe state of the entire telephone voice control system. In other words,the intermediate processing unit 102 makes such a determination that therequest from the application program 101 can be fulfilled, and changesthe state to establish a connection or achieve a playback of voice. Inthe processing for storing voice data in the voice storage unit 107,when the telephone terminal 113 makes a connection request to atelephone terminal housed in the circuit exchange 108, notification ofthe connection is posted to the application program 101 via theintermediate processing unit 102. In this case, the application program101 has only to issue a call recording request to the intermediateprocessing unit 102 so as to perform the processing for storing voicedata in the voice storage unit 107. On the other hand, in the processingfor reproducing voice data, when a call from the telephone terminal 113has arrived at the exchange 108, notification of the call arrival isposted to the application program 101 via the intermediate processingunit 102. In this case, the application program 101 has only to issue areproduction request to the intermediate processing unit 102 so as toperform the processing for reproducing the voice data stored such as thecall recorded. When the voice data is to be reproduced, the applicationprogram 101 has only to request the intermediate processing unit toreproduce the voice data on a required telephone terminal so as toperform voice playback processing after execution of the line connectionprocessing for the telephone terminal concerned.

In the embodiment, the description was made mainly about the recordedcall data as voice data to be recorded or reproduced. However, it iseasily thought of by those skilled in the art that other types of voicedata such as voice data used for an IVR (Interactive Voice Response)apparatus may be recorded or reproduced instead of the call data.

As discussed above, the telephone voice control system in the embodimentincludes the intermediate processing unit and the application program.The intermediate processing unit is provided with the control parthaving a point of connection with the application program, the callprocessing part, the voice data processing part, and the statusmanagement part for maintaining the status of the call processing partand the voice data processing unit. This configuration allows theapplication program to control the required processing components toperform required processing merely by issuing a request without the needto manage the status of transmission/reception control or connection ofthe voice path.

Further, in the embodiment, the description was made about the operationof a single application program, but the present invention is alsoapplicable to a system as shown in FIG. 5. The system uses two or moreapplication programs 101 and 401 and is provided with a call processingsupervising unit 407 for supervising call processing requests from theapplication programs. In this case, two or more voice data processingparts 106, 406 establish direct connections to the voice interface part110 without passing through the call processing supervising unit 407,while the voice interface part 110 receives requests directly from thedata processing units 106, 406.

This configuration can avoid such a case that the call processingsupervising unit 407 becomes unable to process reams of voice data,which in turn allows each application program to carry out the sameoperation as in the above-mentioned embodiment.

(Second Embodiment)

In the second embodiment, description will be made about a configurationin which a telephone voice control system informs the person in chargeover the Internet that voice data have been stored.

As shown in FIG. 6, this telephone voice control system is includes aninformation notification unit 501 for notifying information to theInternet 502 in response to a request from the application program 101.On the other hand, the person in charge possesses a multi-functionalterminal 503 having an Internet terminal part 504 and a telephoneterminal part 505. The Internet terminal part 504 connects the terminal503 to the Internet 502, while the telephone terminal part 505 connectsthe terminal 503 to the telephone network 112. Other components are thesame as those in the first embodiment (FIG. 1).

It should be noted that the Internet 502 is just an example of thesecond embodiment, and any other data networks such as a leased line maybe adopted as long as they can transmit data.

In the system, if a customer makes a phone call through the exchange108, the contents are stored in the voice storage unit 107, andnotification that voice has been stored is posted to themulti-functional terminal 503 of the person in charge over the Internet.After receiving the notification, when the person in charge calls theexchange 108 through the telephone network 112, corresponding voice datais specified on the basis of the caller number and the voice is playedback.

FIG. 7 shows the operation of the system.

Step 601: The application program 101 requests the informationnotification unit 501 to specify the URL of the multi-functionalterminal 503 of the person in charge so as to notify the Internet 502 ofinformation on voice storage notification, including telephone numberinformation for connection with the exchange 108, in the form of ane-mail or Web page.

Step 602: The information notification unit 501 notifies the informationto the Internet terminal part 504 of the multi-functional terminal 503via the Internet 502.

Step 603: The Internet terminal part 504 notifies the telephone terminalpart 505 of the received telephone number information for use inestablishing a connection with the exchange 108.

Step 604: The telephone terminal part 505 establishes the connectionwith the exchange 108 via the telephone network 112.

Step 605: The circuit switching part 111 notifies completion of theconnection with the multi-functional terminal 503 and the caller numberof the telephone terminal part 505 of the multi-functional terminal 503,obtained at arrival of the call, to the application program 101 throughthe call control interface part 109, and the call processing part 104and the control part 103 of the intermediate processing unit 102.

Step 606: The application program 101 specifies, on the basis of thereceived caller number, the multi-functional terminal from which thenotification has been posted in step 601, and requests the control part103 of the intermediate processing unit 102 to reproduce voice datacorresponding to the multi-functional terminal.

Step 607: The control part 103 instructs the voice data processing part106 to send the voice data. Then the voice data processing part 106obtains the voice data from the voice storage unit 107 to send the sameto the circuit switching part 111 through the voice interface part 110of the exchange 108.

Step 608: The circuit switching part 111 sends voice to the telephoneterminal part 505 of the multi-functional terminal 503 via the telephonenetwork 112 so that the telephone terminal 505 plays back the voice.

As discussed above, the telephone voice control system in the embodimentis such that when voice data is stored in the voice storage unit, thesystem informs the multi-functional terminal of the person in chargethat the voice data has been stored. Then the system obtains a callernumber in response to arrival of a call from the multi-functionalterminal, specifies corresponding voice data on the basis of the callernumber obtained, and reproduces the voice data.

This configuration makes it unnecessary for the person in charge tooperate the terminal so as to select information, which makes itpossible to play back required voice on the multi-functional terminalwithout delay.

(Third Embodiment)

In the third embodiment, description will be made about a configurationin which the system of the second embodiment is more specified. FIGS. 8through 17 illustrates the third embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 8, this system includes a public cable network 1101, ageneral telephone terminal 1102, a public radio network 1103, a portabletelephone terminal 1104, an exchange 1105, an extension telephoneterminal 1106, a voice storage apparatus 1107 and a router 1108. Thepublic cable network 1101 represents a public wired-telephone network.The general telephone terminal 1102 is connected to the public cablenetwork 1101. The public radio network 1103 represents a publicradiotelephone network. The portable telephone terminal 1104 isconnected to the public radio network 1103. The exchange 1105 isconnected to the public cable network 1101. The extension telephoneterminal 1106 is connected to the exchange 1105. The voice storageapparatus 1107 is connected to the exchange 1105 for storing or playingback voice. The router 1108 is used for data communication with theportable telephone terminal 1104 through the public radio network 1103.

The reference numeral 1109 denotes a communication path between thepublic cable network 1101 and the general telephone terminal 1102, whilethe reference numeral 1110 denotes a communication path between thepublic cable network 1101 and the exchange 1105. The communication paths1109, 1110 may be an analog line or ISDN line. The reference numeral1111 designates a communication path between the public radio network1103 and the portable telephone terminal 1104. The communication path1111 carries out both voice and data communications using a protocolsuch as a communication protocol described in RCR STD-27 (digital mobiletelephone system standard) of ARIB (Association of Radio Industries andBusinesses.

The reference numeral 1112 designates a communication path between thepublic cable network 1101 and the public radio network 1103, while thereference numeral 1113 designates a communication path between thepublic radio network 1103 and the router 1108. The communication path1113 may be a leased circuit or the Internet. If the communication path1113 is the Internet, actual data communication may be carried outthrough the public cable network 1101. In either case, the effects ofthe present invention can be obtained as long as the communication pathcan carry out both the data communication with the portable telephoneterminal 1104 through the router 1108 and the voice communication withthe portable telephone terminal 1104 through the exchange 1105.Therefore, to simplify the description of the present invention, it isassumed in the embodiment that the data communication between theportable telephone terminal 1104 and the router 1108 is carried outthrough the communication path 1111, the public radio network 1103 andthe communication path 1113. On the other hand, the voice communicationbetween the portable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange 1105 iscarried out through the communication path 1111, the public radionetwork 1103, the communication path 1112, the public cable network 1101and the communication path 1110.

The reference numeral 1114 designates a communication path between theexchange 1105 and the extension telephone terminal 1106. Thecommunication path 1114 uses a telephone line, but the Ethernet can beused as well. The reference numeral 1115 designates a communication pathbetween the exchange 1105 and the voice storage apparatus 1107. Thecommunication path 1115 may be the Ethernet. The reference numeral 1116designates a communication path between the voice storage apparatus 1107and the router 1108. The communication path 1116 may be the Ethernet. Inthe embodiment, the communication paths 1115, 1116 are separated, but itis easily thought of by those skilled in the art that if both paths arebuilt through the Ethernet, a single path is commonly used therefor.

It should be noted that the multi-functional terminal 503 in the secondembodiment (FIG. 6) is one form of the portable telephone terminal 1104in this embodiment. Further, the voice storage apparatus 1107 in thisembodiment takes the form of a personal computer including as componentsthe intermediate processing unit 102, the voice storage unit 107 and theapplication program 101 in the second embodiment.

Referring next to FIG. 9, the exchange 1105 will be described in detail.As shown in FIG. 9, the exchange 1105 is provided with circuit switchingmeans 1201, caller number detection means 1202, exchange communicationmeans 1205, voice transmission/reception means 1204, voice mixing means1203 and total control means 1206. The circuit switching means 1201performs circuit switching control of the public cable network 1101through the communication path 1110 and the extension telephone terminal1106 through the communication path 1114. The caller number detectionmeans 1202 detects a caller number in response to arrival of a call fromthe public cable network 1101 or the extension telephone terminal 1106to output the same to the outside of the exchange 1105. The exchangecommunication means 1205 performs control of communication between theexchange 1105 and the voice storage apparatus 1107 through thecommunication path 1115 in a communication system such as TCP/IPcommunication through the Ethernet or UDP/IP communication. The voicetransmission/reception means 1204 converts a stream of voice after thecircuit switching means 1201 performed circuit switching processing,into packet voice data for output to the voice storage apparatus 1107through the communication path 1115. It also converts the packet voicedata transmitted from the voice storage apparatus 1107 into a formatsuitable for output to the circuit switching means 1201. The voicemixing means 1203 mixes two or more channels of voice data. The totalcontrol means 1206 controls the entire operation of the exchange 1105.In this case, the voice mixing means 1203 mixes voices of caller andcalled person. Further, the total control means 1206 connects andcontrols the circuit switching means 1201, the caller number detectionmeans 1202, the voice mixing means 1203, the voicetransmission/reception means 1204 and the exchange communication means1205.

Referring next to FIG. 10, the voice storage apparatus 1107 will bedescribed in detail. As shown in FIG. 10, the voice storage apparatus1107 is provided with voice storage apparatus communication means 1301,voice storage means 1302, voice storage/management means 1303, storagenotification means 1304, caller number storage means 1305 and voiceplayback means 1306. The voice storage apparatus communication means1302 controls communications with the exchange 1105 through thecommunication path 1115 and the router 1108 through the communicationpath 1116. The voice storage means 1302 controls storage of voice datainput from the exchange 1105 through the communication path 1115. Thevoice storage/management means 1303 actually stores therein the voicedata the storage of which is controlled by the voice storage means 1302.The storage notification means 1304 notifies the portable telephoneterminal 1104 that voice has been stored in the voice storage/managementmeans 1303 (the notification created by the storage notification meansis called the “voice storage notification” below). The caller numberstorage means 1305 manages a one-to-one correspondence between the voicestorage notification sent to the portable terminal and a caller numberto be notified at the time of call origination from the portableterminal 1104. The voice playback means 1306 controls processing foroutputting to the exchange 1105 the voice data stored in the voicestorage/management means 1303. In this case, the voicestorage/management means 1301 performs control of communication with theexchange 1105 or the router 1108 through the communication path 1115 or1116 in a communication system such as TCP/IP communication through theEthernet or UDP/IP communication. The router 1108, and the voice storagemeans communication means 1301 and the storage notification means 1304of the voice storage apparatus 1107 in this embodiment correspond to theinformation notification unit 501 in the second embodiment.

Referring next to FIGS. 11 through 17, the operation of the system inthis embodiment will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustratingthe system operation. FIGS. 12 and 13 are signaling diagramsillustrating the system operation.

As shown in step 1401 of FIG. 11, the system first carries out circuitconnection between the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extensiontelephone terminal 1106. The processing step 1401 corresponds tosignaling procedures 1501 and 1502 of FIG. 12. It should be noted that abroken arrow 503 indicates exchange of voice data, not of a signal. Thereference numeral 1504 to be described later also indicates the same.

The arrow 1501 collectively represents signals exchanged from the time acall from the general telephone terminal 1102 is originated until theconnection with the extension telephone terminal 1106 is established. Inan actual situation, call setting messages such as call setting and callacknowledgment messages are exchanged between the general telephoneterminal 1102 and the exchange 1105 through the communication path 1109,the public cable network 1101 and the communication path 1110. At thistime, signals are also exchanged between the exchange 1105 and theextension telephone terminal 1106. However, since the effects of thepresent invention can be obtained as long as the connection between thegeneral telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal1106 is established, the description is simplified in the embodiment.

During this operation, the caller number detection means 1202 of theexchange 1105 performs processing for detecting a caller telephonenumber contained in the messages received at the circuit switching means1201 from the public cable network. Description of this processing isalso omitted because a method of practically realizing the processing iseasily thought of by those skilled in the art.

Once the connection between the general telephone terminal 1102 and theextension telephone terminal 1106 has been established, voices can beexchanged between the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 through the circuit switching means 1201 of theexchange 1105 as shown by the arrow 1502 to make the call available.

Next, as shown in step 1402 of FIG. 11, the system performs processingfor storing in the voice storage apparatus 1107 the contents of the callbetween the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephoneterminal 1106. The processing step 1402 corresponds signaling procedures1503 and 1504 in the signaling diagram of FIG. 12.

When the connection between the general telephone terminal 1102 and theextension telephone terminal 1106 has been established, the exchange1105 transmits a call recording-start request to the voice storageapparatus 1107 as shown by the arrow 1503. In an actual situation, thetotal control means 1206 transmits the call recording-start requestthrough the exchange communication means 1203 after detecting that theconnection between the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 has been established.

The call recording-start request is information, for example, which issent in a format as shown in FIG. 14. The information is composed of acall recording-start request identifier 1701 indicating that theinformation is the call recording-start request, a caller telephonenumber 1702 indicative of a telephone number of the general telephoneterminal 1102, a called telephone number 1703 indicative of a telephonenumber of the extension telephone terminal 1106, and additionalinformation 1704. The additional information may include connectionstart time.

The caller number of the general telephone terminal 1102 stored in thefield 1702 is detected by the caller number detection means 1202 andobtained by the total control means 1206, and thereby stored in thiscall recording-start request.

After transmitting the call recording-start request 1503, the exchange1105 transmits voice data, indicative of the contents of the callbetween the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephoneterminal 1106, to the voice storage apparatus 1107 as shown by the arrow1504. In an actual situation, a stream of voice input from the generaltelephone terminal 1102 to the circuit switching means 1201 through thecommunication path 1110 and a stream of voice input from the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 to the circuit switching means 1201 through thecommunication path 1114 are output to the voice mixing means 1205. Thevoice mixing means 1205 mixes the two steams of input voices to output astream of mixed voice to the voice transmission/reception means 1204.The voice transmission/reception means 1204 converts the stream of mixedvoice to packet voice data to output the packet voice data to the voicestorage apparatus 1107 through the exchange communication means 1203.

The following describes the operation of the voice storage apparatus1107 in this processing. The call recording-start request 1503 is inputto the voice storage means 1302 through the communication path 1115 andthe voice storage apparatus communication means 1301. The voice dataindicative of the contents of the call between the general telephoneterminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal 1106 are also inputto the voice storage means 1302 through the same route. In other words,the voice storage means 1302 performs processing for storing in thevoice storage/management means 1303 the voice data indicative of thecontents of the call between the general telephone terminal 1102 and theextension telephone terminal 1106 together with the caller numbercontained in the call recording-start request 1503, the telephone numberof the extension telephone terminal 1106 and the additional information.The above-mentioned processing is continuously performed until the nextprocessing step 1403 is started.

The transmission of the voice data from the exchange 1105 to the voicestorage apparatus 1107 as shown by the arrow 1504 will be describedlater in detail.

Next, as shown in step 1403 of FIG. 11, the system performs linedisconnection processing between the general telephone terminal 1102 andthe extension telephone terminal 1106. The processing step 1403corresponds to signaling procedures 1505 and 1506 in the signalingdiagram of FIG. 12.

When either the general telephone terminal 1102 or the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 performs on-hook processing to disconnect theline, messages such as disconnection or release messages are exchangedamong the general telephone terminal 1102, the exchange 1105 and theextension telephone terminal 1106 as shown by an arrow 1505. Since thepresent invention does not feature how to disconnect, detaileddescription of the disconnection processing is omitted.

Upon completion of the line disconnection processing between the generaltelephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal 1106, theexchange 1105 outputs a call recording-stop request to the voice storageapparatus 1107 as shown by an arrow 1506. In an actual situation, thetotal control means 1206 detects, from the circuit switching means 1201,the disconnection between the general telephone terminal 1102 and theextension telephone terminal 1106, and transmits the detection resultsto the voice storage apparatus 1107 through the exchange communicationmeans 1203. In the voice storage apparatus 1107, the voice storage means1302 receives the call recording-stop request 1506 to stop theprocessing step 1402 of storing the voice data in the voicestorage/management means 1303. Then the voice storage/management means1303 transmits a message ID for identifying the voice data stored. Useof the message D allows fetching of the voice data stored in step 1402in the voice storage/management means 1303.

Next, as shown in step 1404 of FIG. 11, the system performs processingfor transmitting a voice storage notification from the voice storageapparatus 1107 to the portable telephone terminal 1104. The processingstep 1404 corresponds to signaling procedures 1507 and 1508 in thesignaling diagram of FIG. 12.

Upon completion of the processing step 1403 of FIG. 11, the voicestorage apparatus 1107 transmits the voice storage notification to therouter 1108 as shown by the arrow 1507. The following describes thisprocessing in detail. Upon the completion of the processing step 1403 ofFIG. 11, the voice storage means 1302 of the voice storage apparatus1107 outputs to the storage notification means 1304 a voice storage-endnotification indicating that the storage of voice has been completed.The above-mentioned message ID is stored in the voice storage-endnotification. Then the voice storage notification means 1304 creates avoice storage notification and transmits the same to the router 1108through the voice storage apparatus communication means 1301 and thecommunication path 1116. The voice storage notification may be posted inthe form of an e-mail. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the contents ofinformation contained in the voice storage notification sent in the formof an e-mail. Stored in a field 1801 as a destination address is ane-mail address at which an e-mail is posted to the portable telephoneterminal 1104. Stored in a field 1802 as a text is a destinationtelephone number via which voice data is listened to. Stored in a field1803 is text additional information. The text additional information mayinclude the caller telephone number of the general telephone terminal1102, the telephone number of the extension telephone terminal 1106 andrecording start time. After completion of the transmission of the voicestorage notification, the storage notification means 1304 notifies thecaller number storage means 1305 of information related to thedestination of the voice storage notification, such as the e-mailaddress of the portable telephone terminal 1104, and the message ID.

Then, as shown by the arrow 1508, the router 1108 transmits the voicestorage notification to the portable telephone terminal 1104 via thecommunication path 1113, the public radio network 1103 and thecommunication path 1111. If the voice storage notification is an e-mail,the e-mail is actually transmitted to the portable telephone terminal1104 from the router 1108 through an e-mail server, for example, placedin the public radio network 1103. However, since the present inventiondoes not feature the process to transmit the voice storage notification,detailed description of how to transmit is omitted.

Next, as shown in step 1405 of FIG. 11, when the portable telephoneterminal 1104 receives the voice storage notification, the user of theportable telephone terminal 1104 decides whether he or she listens tothe voice data. In an actual situation, if the user does not operate theterminal in response to the voice storage notification, the processingprocedure does not advance to step 1406. Then, when the line connectionprocessing between the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 is performed again, the sequence of operationsfrom step 1401 to step 1404 are performed again.

If the user of the portable telephone terminal 1104 starts listening tothe voice data, the portable telephone terminal 1104 starts callorigination processing as shown in step 1406 of FIG. 11. The followingdescribes, as an example, such a case that after receiving the voicestorage notification three times, the user of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 starts listening to the voice data. In other words, afterthe operations from step 1401 to step 1404 have been repeated threetimes, the processing procedure advances to step 1406. The processingstep 1406 corresponds to a signaling procedure 1601 in the signalingdiagram of FIG. 13.

When the user starts listening to the voice data, as shown by the arrow1601, the portable telephone terminal 1104 performs processing fortransmitting a destination telephone number, as shown in the field 1802of FIG. 15, via which the user will listen to the voice data. The callorigination processing may be performed by the user of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 inputting the destination telephone numbercontained in the storage notification. Alternatively, the destinationtelephone number may be automatically transmitted by selecting thedestination telephone number displayed on a display screen of theportable telephone terminal 1104 through a key operation on the portabletelephone terminal 1104. Either method can display the effects of thepresent invention as long as the portable telephone terminal 1104 canoriginate a call at the destination telephone number. In the exchange1105, the circuit switching means 1201 takes in a signal indicated bythe arrow 1601, and the caller number detection means 1202 detects thecaller number of the portable telephone terminal 1104.

Then, as shown in step 1407 of FIG. 11, the system performs connectionprocessing between the exchange 1105 and the portable telephone terminal1104 in response to arrival of a call at the destination telephonenumber via which the user of the portable telephone terminal 1104 canlisten to the voice data. The processing step 1407 corresponds to asignaling procedure 1602 in the signaling diagram of FIG. 13.

When receiving the signal 1601 generated in the call originationprocessing of the portable telephone terminal 1104, the connectionbetween the portable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange 1105 is soestablished that the exchange 1105 sends and receives signals to andfrom the portable telephone terminal 1104 through the communication path1111 to form a vocal call path. Since the effects of the presentinvention can be obtained as long as the signal 1602 can establish theconnection between the portable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange1105, the operation of the signal 1602 is not restricted.

Then, as shown in step 1408 of FIG. 11, when the connection between theportable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange 1105 has beenestablished, the system performs voice playback processing from thevoice storage apparatus 1107 to the portable telephone terminal 1104.The processing step 1408 corresponds to signaling procedures 1603through 1606 in the signaling diagram of FIG. 13. In FIG. 13, the brokenarrows 1604 to 1606 indicate exchange of voice data, not of signals.

Upon establishing the connection between the portable telephone terminal1104 and the exchange 1105, the exchange 1105 transmits a playback startrequest to the voice storage apparatus 1107 as indicated by the arrow1603. In an actual situation, the total control means 1206 detects, fromthe circuit switching means 1201, that the connection between theportable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange 1105 has beenestablished, and outputs the playback start request to the voice storageapparatus 1107 through the exchange communication means 1205.

The playback start request is information, for example, which is sent ina format as shown in FIG. 16. The information is composed of a playbackstart request identifier 1901 indicating that the information is theplayback start request, a caller telephone number 1902 indicative of atelephone number of the portable telephone terminal 1104, and additionalinformation 1903. The additional information 1903 may include starttime. The caller number of the portable telephone terminal 1104 storedin the field 1902 is detected by the caller number detection means 1202in step 1407 of FIG. 11 and obtained by the total control means 1206,and thereby stored in this playback start request.

In the voice storage apparatus 1107, the voice playback means 1306 takesin the playback start request through the communication path 1115 andthe voice storage apparatus 1301. The voice playback means 1306 outputsto the caller number storage means 1305 the caller telephone number ofthe portable telephone terminal contained in the playback start request1902 to obtain a message ID of voice data to be reproduced. Referring toFIG. 17, the operation of this processing will be described below indetail. FIG. 17 shows an example of information managed by the callernumber storage means 1305. As shown, the telephone number of theportable telephone terminal 1104 is managed in a field 2001. Managed ina field 2002 is information related to the destination of the voicestorage notification to be transmitted to the portable telephoneterminal 1104, such as an e-mail address for sending an e-mail to theportable telephone terminal 1104. Managed in a field 2003 are messageIDs. As discussed above, after completion of the processing in step 1404for transmitting the voice storage notification, the storagenotification means 1304 notifies the caller number storage means 1305 ofthe information related to the destination of the voice storagenotification, such as the e-mail address of the portable telephoneterminal 1104, and message IDs. At this time, the message IDs to bestored in the field 2003 are notified. In the embodiment, since thedescription is made about such a case that the voice storagenotification has been transmitted three times before the user startslistening, three message IDs are stored in the field 2003. The threemessage IDs are represented below as message ID 1, message ID 2 andmessage ID 3, respectively.

Upon receipt of the playback start request 1603, the voice storageapparatus 1107 obtains, from the voice storage/management means 1303,voice data of the message ID 1 stored in the field 2003 and obtainedfrom the caller number storage means 1305, and outputs the obtainedvoice data to the exchange 1105 through the voice storage apparatuscommunication means 1301 and the communication path 1115. Upon receiptof the voice data through the exchange communication means 1203, theexchange 1105 outputs the received voice data to the public cablenetwork 1101 through the voice transmission/reception means 1204, thecircuit switching apparatus means 1110 and the communication path 1110.Then the voice data is transmitted from the public cable network 1101 tothe portable telephone terminal 1104 through the communication path1112, the public radio network 1103 and the communication path 1111.Thus the user of the portable telephone terminal 1104 can listen to thecontents of the call between the general telephone terminal 1102 and theextension telephone terminal 1106 recorded in the processing step 1402of FIG. 11.

Upon completion of playback of the message ID 1, the voice storageapparatus 1107 starts playback of the message ID 2 as shown by the arrow1605. Then, upon completion of playback of the message ID 2, the voicestorage apparatus 1107 starts playback of the message ID 3. The messageID 2 and the message ID 3 are played back in the same manner as themessage ID 1.

The following describes in more detail the process to transmit voicedata in the signaling procedure 1604 of FIG. 13. According to thepresent invention, the exchange communication means 1203 of the exchange1105 and the voice storage apparatus communication means 1301 of thevoice storage apparatus 1107 are adapted to a transmittable rate of thecommunication path 1115. Further, both communication means have afunction for enabling communication between the exchange 1105 and thevoice storage apparatus 1107 using a communication protocol withretransmission control capability. The following describes, as anexample, such a case that the communication path 1115 is the 10 MbpsEthernet, and a stream of voice is output from the exchange 1105 to thepublic cable network 1101 through the communication path 1110 at atransmission rate of 64 Kbps using TCP/IP as the protocol ofcommunication of voice data between the exchange 1105 an the voicestorage apparatus 1107.

The message ID 1 obtained by the voice playback means 1306 from thevoice storage/management means 1303 is input from the voice playback1306 to the exchange communication means 1115 through the voice storageapparatus communication means 1301 and the communication path 1115.Since the transmission processing from the voice storage apparatus 1107to the exchange 1105 depends on the communication path 1115, that is,the 10 Mbps Ethernet, the transmission is performed at a transmissionrate over 64 kbps at the beginning of the transmission. However, sincethe stream of voice is output at a transmission rate of 64 kbps from theexchange 1105 to the public cable network 1101 through the communicationpath 1110, the communication through the communication path 1115 movesto the optimum transmission rate under the control of the TCP/IPcommunication protocol.

As discussed above and according to the present invention, even if thecommunication path uses TCP/IP as the communication protocol, since thevoice data stored in the voice storage/management means 1303 istransmitted from the voice playback means 1306 in the transmissionprocessing of the voice data as indicated by the arrow 1604 of FIG. 13,the voice playback means 1306 can always prepare the voice data fortransmission. Therefore, if the transmission rate of the communicationpath 1115 is faster than the transmission rate for the transmission fromthe exchange 1105 to the public cable network 1101, no loss of voicedata will occur between the voice storage apparatus 1107 and theexchange 1105, which ensures the quality of voice data stored in thevoice storage apparatus 1107.

Further, since the transmission rate of the communication path 1115 isfaster than the transmission rate for the transmission from the exchange1105 to the public cable network 1101, even if the transmission rate ofcommunication path 1115 suddenly drops because of a burst or the like,or control of retransmission between the exchange communication means1115 and the voice storage apparatus communication means 1301 isrequired, data previously received at and stored in the exchangecommunication means 1115 of the exchange 1105 can be used to keep thetransmission rate of the voice stream at 64 kbps so that the voicestream will be constantly output at the transmission rate of 64 kbpsfrom the exchange 1105 to the public cable network 1101 without any lossof the voice data.

Like in the above-mentioned processing, the voice data 1504 stored inthe processing for storing the contents of the call shown in step 1402of FIG. 11 can also be transmitted from the exchange 1105 to the voicestorage apparatus 1107 using the TCP/IP communication protocol, so thatretransmission control against a sudden drop of the transmission rate ofthe communication path 1115 because of a burst or the like, or losses ofthe voice data can be performed. This makes it possible to store thecontents of the call between the general telephone terminal 1102 and theextension telephone terminal 1106 without any degradation in voicequality.

In the embodiment, the system configured such above can display thefollowing effects. First, the caller number storage means 1305 maintainsa one-to-one correspondence between the caller number of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 and the voice data created during the callbetween the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephoneterminal 1106 and stored in the voice storage/management means 1303.Therefore, when the connection between the portable telephone terminal1104 and the exchange 1105 is established, the user of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 can listen to the voice data created during thecall between the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 without the need to do any special specificationon the portable telephone terminal 1104.

Second, even if the voice data created when two or more calls betweenthe general telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal1106 have occurred and been stored in the voice storage/management means1303 before the connection between the portable telephone terminal 1104and the exchange 1105 is established, since the caller number storagemeans 1305 maintains a one-to-one correspondence between the callernumber and each of the plural voice data stored in the voicestorage/management means 1303, the user of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 can continuously listen to all the voice data, which theuse has not listen to yet, upon establishing the connection with theexchange 1105.

Third, since the exchange and the voice storage apparatus communicatewith each other using the TCP/IP protocol, and the voice data is sentand received at a transmission rate adapted to the transmission rate ofthe communication path 1115, retransmission control can be performedwhen losses of voice data occur in the communication path 1115. Further,even if the transmission rate of the communication path 1115 suddenlydrops because of a burst or the like, previously sent data can be usedfor playback of voice, which prevents any degradation in voice quality.

In the embodiment, the voice data which the user listens to on theportable telephone terminal 1104 were always the contents of the callbetween the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephoneterminal 1106, but it is easily thought of by those skilled in the artthat the concept of the call may be extended over any call betweentelephone terminals as long as the call can be made through the exchange1105.

Further, in the embodiment, the call recording-start request was outputin the processing step 1402 of FIG. 11 from the exchange 1105 to thevoice storage apparatus 1107, but the same operation as the processingstep 1402 for outputting the voice storage-start request from theexchange 1105 to the voice storage apparatus 1107 can be carried out asfollows. When a call from the general telephone terminal 1102 is arrivedat the exchange 1105, the exchange 1105 outputs, to the voice storageapparatus 1107, a notification indicating that the call from the generaltelephone terminal 1102 has arrived at the exchange 1105. Then, when theconnection between the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 is established, the exchange 1105 outputs, tothe voice storage apparatus 1107, a connection notification indicatingthat the connection between the general telephone terminal 1102 and theextension telephone terminal 1106 has been established. Upon receipt ofthe connection notification, the voice storage apparatus 1107 requeststhe exchange 1105 to transmit the contents of the call as a request foroutputting voice data indicative of the contents of the call between thegeneral telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal1106. Upon receipt of the request for the transmission of the contentsof the call, the exchange 11-5 transmits the voice data indicative ofthe contents of the call between the general telephone terminal 1102 andthe extension telephone terminal 1106 on the basis of the requestreceived.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the playback start request was output inthe processing step 1408 of FIG. 11 from the exchange 1105 to the voicecontrol apparatus 1107, but the same operation as the processing step1408 for outputting the playback start request from the exchange 1105 tothe voice storage apparatus 1107 can be carried out as follows. When acall from the potable telephone terminal 1104 is arrived at the exchange1105 in step 1406, the exchange 1105 outputs, to the voice storageapparatus 1107, an arrival notification indicating that the call fromthe portable telephone terminal 1104 has arrived at the exchange 1105.Upon receipt of the arrival notification, the voice storage apparatus1107 outputs a connection request to the exchange 1105, that is, thevoice storage apparatus 1107 requests the exchange 1105 to establishline connection between the portable telephone terminal 1104 and theexchange 1105. Upon receipt of the connection request, the exchange 1105establishes the connection with the portable telephone terminal 1104.When the connection between the portable telephone terminal 1104 and theexchange 1105 is established, the exchange 1105 outputs, to the voicestorage apparatus 1107, a connection notification indicating that theconnection between the portable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange1105 has been established. Upon receipt of the connection notification,the voice storage apparatus 1107 outputs a voice data transmissionrequest to the exchange 1105, that is, the voice storage apparatus 1107requests the exchange 1105 to transmit voice data from the voice storageapparatus 1107 to the portable telephone terminal 1104 so that the voicedata will be transmitted.

Use of the above-mentioned scheme instead of the operations from step1402 to step 1408 makes it easy to obtain the effects of the presentinvention merely. In other words, the exchange 1105 has only to notifythe voice storage apparatus 1107 of changes in line status and respondto the connection control request from the voice storage apparatus 1107.

Furthermore, it is easily thought of by those skilled in the art thatthe destination address deciding method and the one-to-onecorrespondence between the destination address of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 and the caller telephone number of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 as discussed in the embodiment can be carried out invarious manners such as to provide a user interface function in thestorage notification means 1304 so that they will be input by the userof the voice storage apparatus 1107 using the user interface function ormanaged by the storage notification means 1304 in response to the voicestorage-end notification from the voice storage means 1302.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the voice data stored in the voicestorage apparatus 1107 were continuously reproduced as shown from step1606 to step 1608. Instead of the operations, PB signal detection meansmay be provided in the exchange 1105 or the voice storage apparatus 1107so that the sequence of messages to be played back can be changed or amessage or messages can be skipped in response to the transmission of aPB signal from the portable telephone terminal 1104.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the storage notification was posted inthe form of an e-mail, it can also be realized as follows. A packetcommunication path is formed between the portable telephone terminal1104 and the voice storage apparatus 1107 through the communication path1111, the public radio network 1103, the communication path 1113, therouter 1108 and the communication path 1116. In this case, a packet istransmitted from the voice storage apparatus 1107 to the portabletelephone terminal 1104 through the packet communication path.

(Fourth Embodiment)

In the fourth embodiment, the system can select voice data which theuser of the portable telephone terminal listens to.

The general structure of the system in the fourth embodiment is the sameas that in the third embodiment (FIG. 8).

Referring next to FIG. 18, a configuration of the exchange 1105 will bedescribed in detail. The fourth embodiment differs from the thirdembodiment (FIG. 9) in that the exchange 1105 is further provided withuser specified information detection means 2101, and total control means2102 controls the user specified information detection means 2101 inaddition to the other means. Suppose that the caller number detectionmeans 1202 detects a caller number in response to arrival of a call fromthe public cable network 1101 or the extension telephone terminal 1106.In this case, if the caller number detection means 1202 detectsinformation other than the caller number, the caller number detectionmeans 1202 will activate the user specified information detection means2101 to detect the information.

The detailed configuration of the voice storage apparatus 1107 is thesame as that in the third embodiment (FIG. 10)

Like in the third embodiment, FIGS. 11 to 13 shows the basic operationof the system in the fourth embodiment.

In other words, the operations from step 1401 to 1403 are the same as inthe third embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the contents of information to be stored insuch a case that the voice storage notification to be output in step1404 of FIG. 11 from the voice storage apparatus 1107 to the portabletelephone terminal 1104 in step 1404 of FIG. 11 in order to notify theportable telephone terminal 1104 that the completion of the storageoperation is posted in the form of an e-mail. Stored in a field 2201 isan e-mail address at which an email is sent to the portable telephoneterminal 1104. Stored in a field 2202 is a destination telephone numbervia which the user of the portable telephone terminal 1104 listens tovoice data. Stored in a field 2203 is a message ID which specifies thevoice data. Stored in a field 2204 is information added to the text. Thetext additional information may include the caller telephone number ofthe general telephone terminal 1102, the telephone number of theextension telephone terminal 1106 and recording start time.

The storage notification means 1304 of the voice storage apparatus 1107creates the voice storage notification shown in FIG. 19 in step 1404 totransmit the same to the router 1108. The storage notification means1304 also notifies the caller number storage means 1305 of informationrelated to the destination of the voice storage notification, such asthe e-mail address of the portable telephone terminal 1104, and themessage ID.

The router 1108 transmits the voice storage notification to the portabletelephone terminal 1104 (1508 in FIG. 12).

Upon receipt of the voice storage notification, the user of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 determines whether he or she listens to voicedata (step 1405 in FIG. 11). In an actual situation, if the user doesnot operate the terminal in response to the voice storage notification,the processing procedure does not advance to step 1406. Then, when theline connection processing between the general telephone terminal 1102and the extension telephone terminal 1106 is performed again, theoperations from step 1401 to step 1404 are performed again.

If the user of the portable telephone terminal 1104 starts listening tothe voice data, the portable telephone terminal 1104 starts callorigination processing as shown in step 1406 of FIG. 11. The followingdescribes, as an example, such a case that after receiving the voicestorage notification three times, the user of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 starts listening to the voice data. The processing step1406 corresponds to the signaling procedure 1601 in the signalingdiagram of FIG. 13.

When the user starts listening to the voice data, as shown by the arrow1601, the destination telephone number 2202 for listening and themessage ID 2203 are manually specified from the portable telephoneterminal 1104 and the e-mail, respectively, to originate the call.

For example, if the public cable network 1101 is an ISDN line, theportable telephone terminal 1104 can use UUI (user-to-user information)to notify the message ID to the switching system concerned.

UUI provides an area available in the communication between users,defining 128-bit free space for call setting messages passing through aD channel (control channel) of the IDSN line. The portable telephoneterminal 1104 specifies a message ID in the UUI area, and originates acall while sending the message ID to the exchange 1105 as a call settingmessage, which allows the exchange 1105 to receive the message ID set inthe UUI area at arrival of the call.

Instead of the UUI area, a sub-address of the call setting message canbe used in a user-specific mode to specify the message in the area.

Either the method using the UUI or the method using the sub-address canobtain the effects of the present invention as long as the portabletelephone terminal 1104 has a mechanism for enabling the user to inputinformation other than the destination telephone number, the message IDin the embodiment, to the UUI or the sub-address as the call settingmessage upon originating a call, and the exchange 1105 has a mechanismfor receiving and analyzing the information. The sequence using the UULor sub-address is known to those skilled in the art, and detaileddescription thereof is omitted.

Any technique other than the UUI or sub-address may be used as long asthe portable telephone terminal 1104 has a mechanism for enabling theuser to input information such as the message ID and transmit the sameto the exchange 1105, while the exchange 1105 has a mechanism forreceiving and analyzing the information.

In the exchange 1105, circuit switching means 1201 takes in the incomingsignal indicated by the arrow 1601 and the caller number detection means1202 detects the caller number. In this case, since the message ID isfurther added, the user specified information detection means 2101 isused to detect the message ID.

The processing step 1407 of FIG. 11 is the same as in the thirdembodiment.

Then, as shown in step 1408 of FIG. 11, the system performs processingfor playing back voice, which matches the message ID specified from theportable telephone terminal 1104, from the voice storage apparatus 1107to the portable telephone terminal 1104 upon establishing the connectionbetween the portable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange 1105. Theprocessing step 1408 corresponds to the signaling procedures 1603 and1606 in the signaling diagram of FIG. 13. In FIG. 13, the broken arrows1604 to 1606 indicate exchange of voice data, not of signals.

Upon establishing the connection between the portable telephone terminal1104 and the exchange 1105 as indicated by the arrow 1603, the exchange1105 determines the connection through the total control means 2102 andtransmits a playback start request to the voice storage apparatus 1107.The playback start request is information, for example, which is sent ina format as shown in FIG. 20. The information is composed of a playbackstart request identifier 2301, a caller telephone number 2302 indicativeof the telephone number of the portable telephone terminal 1104, amessage ID 2303 and additional information 2304. The additionalinformation may include start time.

In the voice storage apparatus 1107, the voice playback means 1306 takesin the playback start request to output, to the caller number storagemeans 1305, the caller telephone number of the portable telephoneterminal and the message ID, respectively stored in the field 2302 and2303 of the playback start request, so as to obtain voice data to bereproduced.

Referring next to FIG. 17, the operation will be described below indetail. FIG. 17 shows an example of information managed by the callernumber storage means 1305. In the embodiment, since the description ismade about such a case that the voice storage notification has beentransmitted three times before the user starts listening, three messageIDs are stored in the field 2003. The three message IDs are representedbelow as message ID 1, message ID 2 and message ID 3, respectively.

Upon receipt of the playback start request 1603, the voice storageapparatus 1107 compares the message IDs 1, 2 and 3 stored in the field2003 obtained from the caller number storage means 1305 with the messageID contained in the playback start request to obtain a message ID ofvoice data, which matches that in the playback start request, from thevoice storage/management means 1303. Then the voice storage apparatus1107 outputs the obtained message ID to the exchange 1105 through thevoice storage apparatus communication means 1301 and the communicationpath 1115. The exchange 1105 receives and outputs the voice data to thepublic cable network 1101. The voice data is transmitted from the publiccable network 1101 to the portable telephone terminal 1104 through thecommunication path 112, the public radio network 1103 and thecommunication path 1111. Thus the user of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 can listen to the contents of the call between the generaltelephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal 1106recorded in the processing step 1402 of FIG. 11.

The sequence of voice data to be reproduced may be so decided that twoor more messages can be played back in order of input on condition thattwo or more message IDs can be manually input from the portabletelephone terminal 1104 in the same manner as in the embodiment. Forexample, if the message ID 1, the message ID 2, and the message ID 3 areinput in this order, the user can listen to the voice data in thatorder. Alternatively, playback may be started from specified voice data,then the remaining voice data that have not been specified. For example,if the message ID 2 is specified, the user will listen to voice datacorresponding to the message ID 2 first, and then voice datacorresponding to the remaining message IDs 1 and 3.

Thus the system in the embodiment allows the user of the portabletelephone terminal to select voice data to which the user listens orspecify the listening sequence on the basis of the message IDs and thetext additional information of the voice storage notification (FIG. 19).

The contents of the text additional information of the voice storagenotification or assignment of the message ID may be so altered that theuser of the portable telephone terminal can select voice data moreeasily.

(Fifth Embodiment)

In the fifth embodiment, the system presents a list of two or morepieces of stored voice data to the user of the portable telephoneterminal so that the user can select form the list voice data to whichthe user listens.

The general structure of the system in the fifth embodiment is the sameas that in the third embodiment (FIG. 8), except that a browse functionis mounted in the portable telephone terminal 1104. The structure of theexchange 1105 is also the same as that in the third embodiment (FIG. 9).

Referring next to FIG. 21, a configuration of the voice storageapparatus 1107 will be described in detail. The fifth embodiment differsfrom the third embodiment (FIG. 10) in that the voice storage apparatus1107 is further provided with input/output means 2401 and screen storagemeans 2402.

The input/output means 2401 analyzes information input from the portabletelephone terminal 1104 through the communication path 1116 via thevoice storage communication means 1301 to perform processing specifiedthrough input operations. Then the input/output means 2401 returns theprocessing results to the portable telephone terminal 1104. On the otherhand, the screen storage means 2402 stores screen template informationto be output to the portable telephone terminal 1104.

For example, FIG. 21 indicates that the voice storage apparatus 1107 hasa WWW (World Wide Web) server function. In other words, functions forselecting a screen template from the information input from the portabletelephone terminal 1104 via the communication path 1116, that is, overthe Internet, obtaining information to be embedded in the screentemplate, and outputting the display of the information together withthe selected screen template to the portable telephone terminal 1104 areadded to the voice storage apparatus.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the systemaccording to the embodiment. FIGS. 12 and 24 are signaling diagramsillustrating the operation of the system according to the embodiment. Asequence of operations from step 2601 to 2604 in FIG. 23 are the same asthose from step 1401 to step 1404 in the third embodiment (FIG. 11).

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the contents of information to be stored insuch a case that the voice storage notification to be output in step2604 from the voice storage apparatus 1107 to the portable telephoneterminal 1104 in order to notify the portable telephone terminal 1104 ofthe completion of the storage operation is posted in the form of ane-mail. Stored in a field 2501 is an e-mail address at which an email issent to the portable telephone terminal 1104. Stored in a field 2502 isa destination telephone number via which the user of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 listens to voice data. Stored in a field 2503 isan address, for example, a URL, for displaying a list of voice datainformation stored in the voice storage apparatus 1107. Stored in afield 2504 is information added to the text. The text additionalinformation may include the caller telephone number of the generaltelephone terminal 1102, the telephone number of the extension telephoneterminal 1106 and recording start time and an outline of voice data.

The storage notification means 1304 creates the voice storagenotification shown in FIG. 22 in step 2604 to transmit the same to therouter 1108 through the voice storage apparatus communication means 1301and the communication path 1116. The storage notification means 1304also notifies the caller number storage means 1305 of the message IDcorresponding to the voice data concerned.

Then the router 1108 transmits the voice storage notification to theportable telephone terminal 1104 through the communication path 1113,the public radio network 1103 and the communication path 1111 asindicated by the arrow 1508 in FIG. 12. In an actual situation, if thevoice storage notification is posted in the form of an e-mail, thee-mail is transmitted to the portable telephone terminal 1104 through ane-mail server, for example, furnished in the public radio network 1103.However, since the present invention does not feature the process totransmit the voice storage notification, detailed description of how totransmit is omitted.

Next, as shown in step 2605 of FIG. 23, when the portable telephoneterminal 1104 receives the voice storage notification, the user of theportable telephone terminal 1104 decides whether he or she listens tothe voice data. In an actual situation, if the user does not operate theterminal in response to the voice storage notification, the processingprocedure does not advance to step 2606. Then, when the line connectionprocessing between the general telephone terminal 1102 and the extensiontelephone terminal 1106 is performed again, the sequence of operationsfrom step 2601 to step 2604 are performed again.

If the user of the portable telephone terminal 1104 starts listening tothe voice data, the user uses the browse function of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 in step 2606 of FIG. 23 to obtain a list ofvoice data stored in the voice storage apparatus 1107 so as to selectvoice data to be reproduced. In the next step 2607, the portabletelephone terminal 1104 performs call origination processing.

The following describes, as an example, such a case that after receivingthe voice storage notification three times, the user of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 starts listening to the voice data. In otherwords, after the operations from step 2601 to step 2604 have beenrepeated three times, the processing procedure advances to step 2606.The processing step 2606 corresponds to signaling procedures 2701 to2703 in the signaling diagram of FIG. 24.

When the user starts listening to the voice data, as shown by the arrow2701, the user uses the browse function of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 to specify a URL in the field 2503 of the voice storagenotification so as to display the list of voice data. In the voicestorage apparatus 1107, the input/output means 2401 receives the URLfrom the communication path 1116 through the voice storage apparatuscommunication means 1301. Then the input/output means 2401 obtains ascreen template, display of the voice data list in the embodiment, fromthe screen storage means 2402 to embed, in the display of the voice datalist, information stored in the caller number storage means 1305.Further, the input/output means 2402 reversely routes the transmissionfrom the voice storage apparatus communication means 1301 to the potabletelephone terminal 1401 through the communication path 1116. Thisoperation corresponds to the signal 2702 in FIG. 24.

Next, as shown by the arrow 2703, the user of the potable telephoneterminal 1401 selects voice data from the display of the voice data listobtained in the signaling procedure 2702 sequentially from the voicedata to which the user wants to listen most. The selected voice data areentered from the communication line 1116 to the input/output means 2401of the voice storage apparatus 1107 through the voice storage apparatuscommunication means 1301, and registered in the caller number storagemeans 1305.

FIG. 25 shows an example of information managed by the caller numberstorage means 1305. The reference numerals 2801 to 2803 designateinformation to be notified from the storage notification means 1304after the transmission of the voice storage notification. Theinformation 2801 is the telephone number of the portable telephoneterminal 1104. The information 2802 is information related to thedestination of the voice storage notification to be transmitted to theportable telephone terminal 1104, for example, an e-main address atwhich an e-mail is sent to the portable telephone terminal 1104. Theinformation 2803 is to manage a message ID. The reference numeral 2804designates information for managing the sequence of voice data inputsequentially in the above-mentioned step 2606 of FIG. 23 from the voicedata to which the user wants to listen most.

Since the method of realizing the operations from step 2701 to step 2703is known in the WWW field and easily thought of by those skilled in theart, no mention is made of the details.

Next, as shown in step 2607, a call from the portable telephone terminal1104 is originated at the caller telephone number so that the user ofthe portable telephone terminal 1104 can listen to the voice data. Theprocessing step 2607 corresponds to a signal 2704.

The call origination processing is performed in the same manner asdescribed for the signal 1601 of FIG. 13. In other words, the callorigination processing may be performed by the user of the portabletelephone terminal 1104 inputting the destination telephone numbercontained in the storage notification. Alternatively, the destinationtelephone number may be transmitted by selecting the destinationtelephone number displayed on a display screen of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 through a key operation on the portable telephone terminal1104. Either method can display the effects of the present invention.

In the exchange 1105, the circuit switching means 1201 receives thesignal as indicated by the arrow 2704, and the caller number detectionmeans 1202 detects the caller number of the portable telephone terminal1104.

The processing step 2608 corresponds to a signal 2705 in FIG. 24,indicating the same processing as step 1407 of FIG. 11 in the thirdembodiment.

Then, as shown in step 2609 of FIG. 23, when the connection between theportable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange 1105 has beenestablished, the system performs processing for reproducing the voicedata from the voice storage apparatus 1107 to the portable telephoneterminal 1104 in order of specification made using the browse functionof the portable telephone terminal 1104. The processing step 2609corresponds to signaling procedures 2706 to 2709 in the signalingdiagram of FIG. 24. In FIG. 24, the broken arrows 2707 to 2709 indicatesexchange of voice data, not of signals.

Upon establishing the connection between the portable telephone terminal1104 and the exchange 1105, the exchange 1105 transmits the playbackstart request to the voice storage apparatus 1107 as indicated by thearrow 2706. In an actual situation, the total control means 1206detects, from the circuit switching means 1201, that the connectionbetween the portable telephone terminal 1104 and the exchange 1105 hasbeen established, and outputs the playback start request to the voicestorage apparatus 1107 through the exchange communication means 1205.The playback start request is information, for example, which is sent inthe same format as in the third embodiment shown in FIG. 16. Theinformation is composed of a playback start request identifier 1901indicating that the information is the playback start request, a callertelephone number 1902 representing a telephone number of the portabletelephone terminal 1104, and additional information 1903. The additionalinformation 1903 may include start time.

The caller number of the portable telephone terminal 1104 set in thefield 1902 is detected by the caller number detection means 1202 in step2608 of FIG. 23 and stored in this playback start request.

In the voice storage apparatus 1107, the voice playback means 1306receives the playback start request from the exchange 1105 through thecommunication path 1115 and the voice storage apparatus communicationmeans 1301. The voice playback means 1306 outputs to the caller numberstorage means 1305 the caller telephone number of the portable telephoneterminal stored in the field 2302 of the playback start request toobtain voice data to be reproduced.

In the embodiment, since the description is made about such a case thatthe voice storage notification has been transmitted three times beforethe user starts listening, three message IDs are stored in the field2003. The three message IDs are represented below as message ID 1,message ID 2 and message ID 3, respectively.

Upon receipt of the playback start request 1603, the voice playbackmeans 1306 of the voice storage apparatus 1107 obtains, from the voicestorage/management means 1303, voice data of the message IDs 1 to 3stored in the field 2804 obtained from caller number storage means 1305in order of listening to output the same to the exchange 1105 throughthe voice storage apparatus communication means 1301 and thecommunication path 1105.

In the exchange 1105, the exchange communication means 1203 receives thevoice data to output the same to the public cable network 1101 throughthe voice transmission/reception means 1204, the circuit switching means1110 and the communication path 1110. Then the voice data is transmittedfrom the public cable network 1101 to the portable telephone terminal1104 through the communication path 1112, the public radio network 1103and the communication path 1111. Thus the user of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 can listen to the contents of the call between the generaltelephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal 1106recorded in the processing step 2602 of FIG. 23.

If the message IDs 2, 3 and 1 are specified in step 2804 of FIG. 25 tobe listened to in this order, the user of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 can listen to the voice data in that order.

The user may use the above-mentioned browser to specify any reproductionsequence of voice data from the screen displayed at the URL contained inthe voice storage notification. In this case, the voice storageapparatus 1107 may reproduce only the voice data specified by the user,or the specified voice data in order of specification and the othervoice data as required.

It is easily thought of by those skilled in the art that additionalinformation 2504 may be input in various manners such as to provide auser interface function in the storage notification means 1304 as shownin the third embodiment. As an example, the user of the voice storageapparatus may be notified of the reception of the voice storage-endnotification in simultaneous response to the reception of the voicestorage-end notification, so that the user will manually input anoutline of the call or the like using the interface function in responseto the notification.

In the embodiment, the user used the browser of the portable telephoneterminal 1104 to specify the reproduction sequence of voice data beforethe call origination processing. However, the specification of thereproduction sequence of voice data made in step 2606 may trigger thecall origination processing from the voice storage apparatus 1107 to theportable telephone terminal 1104 so that the voice data will be sent tothe user through the voice playback means 1306.

(Sixth Embodiment)

The system in the sixth embodiment allows the user of the generaltelephone terminal to listen to voice data stored in the voice storageapparatus while the call between the general telephone terminal and theextension telephone terminal is in progress.

The general structure of the system is the same as that in the thirdembodiment (FIG. 8). The configuration of the exchange 1105 is also thesame as that in the third embodiment (FIG. 9). As shown in FIG. 26, thecircuit switching means 1201 of the exchange 1105 is provided withgeneral telephone terminal voice input means 2901, general telephoneterminal voice output means 2902, extension telephone terminal voiceinput means 2903, extension telephone terminal voice output means 2904,voice transmission/reception input means 2905, voicetransmission/reception output means 2906, and circuit switching controlmeans 2701. The general telephone terminal voice input means 2901 is toinput voice from other components to the general telephone terminal. Thegeneral telephone terminal voice output means 2902 is to output voicefrom the general telephone terminal to other components. The extensiontelephone terminal voice input means 2903 is to input voice from othercomponents to the extension telephone terminal. The extension telephoneterminal voice output means 2904 is to output from other components tothe extension telephone terminal. The voice transmission/reception inputmeans 2905 is to input voice from other components to the voicetransmission/reception means 1204. The voice transmission/receptionoutput means 2906 is to output voice from the voicetransmission/reception means 1204 to other components. The circuitswitching control means 2701 is to interconnects means for input andoutput operations from step 2901 to step 2906.

Referring next to FIGS. 27 to 30, the operation of the system accordingto the sixth embodiment will be described. FIG. 27 is a flowchartillustrating the operation of the system. FIG. 28 is a signaling diagramillustrating the operation of the system. FIGS. 29 and 30 are diagramsshowing states of the system under the control of the circuit switchingcontrol means 2907.

As shown in step 3001 of FIG. 27, the system first performs lineconnection processing between the general telephone terminal 1102 andthe extension telephone terminal 1106. The processing step 3001corresponds to a signaling procedure 3101 in the signaling diagram ofFIG. 28.

The arrow 3101 collectively represents signals exchanged from the time acall from the general telephone terminal 1102 is originated until theconnection with the extension telephone terminal 1106 is established. Inan actual situation, call setting messages such as call setting and callacknowledgment messages are exchanged between the general telephoneterminal 1102 and the exchange 1105 through the communication path 1109,the public cable network 1101 and the communication path 1110. At thistime, signals are also exchanged between the exchange 1105 and theextension telephone terminal 1106. However, since the effects of thepresent invention can be obtained as long as the connection between thegeneral telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal1106 is established, the description is simplified in the embodiment.During this operation, the caller number detection means 1202 of theexchange 1105 to perform processing for detecting a caller telephonenumber contained in the messages received at the circuit switching means1201 from the public cable network. Description of this processing isalso omitted because a method of practically realizing the processing iseasily thought of by those skilled in the art.

FIG. 29 shows a state under the control of the circuit switching controlmeans upon completion of the processing. In the state, the generaltelephone terminal input means 2901 and the extension telephone terminaloutput means 2904 are connected through a connection path as indicatedby the reference numeral 3201. On the other hand, the general telephoneterminal output means 2902 and the extension telephone terminal inputmeans 2903 are connected through a connection path as indicated by thereference numeral 3202.

Next, as shown in step 3002 of FIG. 27, the switching system operatesthe exchange 1105 to switch voice transmission lines so as to establisha connection of a voice transmission line between the general telephoneterminal 1102 to the voice storage apparatus 1107. The processing step3002 corresponds to a signaling procedure 3102 in the signaling diagramof FIG. 28. In an actual situation, control messages are exchangedbetween the voice storage apparatus 1107 and the exchange 1105 duringthe processing. However, since the effects of the present invention canbe obtained as long as the connection of the transmission line betweenthe general telephone terminal 1102 and the voice storage apparatus 1107is established, the description is simplified in the embodiment.

FIG. 30 shows another state under the control of the circuit switchingcontrol means upon completion of the processing. In the state, thegeneral telephone terminal input means 2901 and the voicetransmission/reception output means 2906 are connected through aconnection path as indicated by the reference numeral 3301. On the otherhand, the general telephone terminal output means 2902 and the voicetransmission/reception input means 2905 are connected through aconnection path as indicated by the reference numeral 3302.

Next, as shown in step 3003 of FIG. 27, the switching system performsvoice playback processing from the voice storage apparatus 1107 to thegeneral telephone terminal 1104. The processing step 3003 corresponds toa signaling procedure in the signaling diagram of FIG. 28. In FIG. 28,the broken arrow 3103 indicates exchange of voice data, not of signals.

Next, as shown in step 3004 of FIG. 27, the switching system operatesthe exchange 1105 to switch voice transmission lines so as to establishthe transmission line between the general telephone terminal 1102 andthe extension telephone terminal 1106 again. The processing step 3004corresponds to a signaling procedure 3104 in the signaling diagram ofFIG. 28. In an actual situation, control messages are exchanged betweenthe voice storage apparatus 1107 and the exchange 1105 during theprocessing. However, since the effects of the present invention can beobtained as long as the connection of the transmission line between thegeneral telephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal1106 is established, the description is simplified in the embodiment.

The state under the control of the circuit switching control means uponcompletion of the processing returns to the state described above inFIG. 29.

As discussed above, the system in the embodiment allows the user of thegeneral telephone terminal 1102 to listen to the voice data stored inthe voice storage apparatus 1107 while the call between the generaltelephone terminal 1102 and the extension telephone terminal 1106 is inprogress.

In the embodiment, the system allowed the user of the general telephoneterminal 1102 to listen to the voice data stored in the voice storageapparatus 1107 while the call between the general telephone terminal1102 and the extension telephone terminal 1106 is in progress, but it iseasily thought of by those skilled in the art that the concept of thecall may be extended over any call between telephone terminals as longas the call can be made through the exchange 1105.

In the specification, the term “telephone voice control system” containsthe “switching system.” Further, the system called the “voice mailsystem” or “voice log system” is also contained in the “telephone voicecontrol system.” The present invention is applicable to various CTIsystems.

As described above and according to the first aspect of the presentinvention, the telephone voice control system is furnished with anintermediate processing unit and an application program. Theintermediate processing unit is provided with a call processing part, avoice data processing part, a status management part for maintaining thestatus of the call processing part and the voice data processing unit,and a control part for controlling the call processing part and thevoice data processing part. The application program sends a request tothe intermediate processing unit. In operation, the control part of theintermediate processing unit compares a state enough to execute therequest from the application program with the state maintained by thestatus management part. If both disaccord, the control part controls thecall processing part and the voice data processing part to performprocessing for matching both states with each other.

In this case, the application program has only to issue the same voiceplayback or recording request to the intermediate processing unit(middleware) anytime without the need to manage the call connected, theconnected state of a voice data path and transmission control.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the telephonevoice control system is furnished with a multi-functional terminal, aninformation notification unit, a circuit switching unit of an exchange,a voice storage unit and an application program. The multi-functionalterminal includes a data communication terminal part connected to a datanetwork and a telephone terminal part connected to a telephone network.The information notification unit notifies information to the datanetwork. The circuit switching unit of an exchange obtains a callernumber from the telephone network at arrival of a call. The voicestorage unit stores voice data received through the exchange. Theapplication program controls storage and reading of the voice data intoand from the voice storage unit. In operation, the informationnotification unit notifies the data network of the information requestedby the application program. Then, when the multi-functional terminalthat has obtained the information through the data network makes arequest to the exchange through the telephone network for thetransmission of voice data, the voice data is selected from among voicedata stored in the voice storage unit according to the caller numberobtained at the circuit switching unit so that the voice data will beprovided to the multi-functional terminal.

In this case, the voice stored in the voice storage unit can be playedback without delay on the multi-functional terminal including the datacommunication terminal part connected to the data network and thetelephone terminal part connected to the telephone network.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when a new calloccurs between a general telephone terminal and an extension telephoneterminal, and voice data on the call is registered after themulti-functional terminal is notified through the data network thatfirst voice data is stored in the voice storage unit and before themulti-functional terminal is connected to the exchange for getting andlistening to the voice data, a one-to-one correspondence among thecaller number of the multi-functional terminal, the first voice datastored in the voice storage unit, and voice data registered afterregistration of the first voice data are maintained.

In this case, when the multi-functional terminal is connected to theexchange for getting the voice data, a user of the multi-functionalterminal can listen to all of the first voice data stored in the voicestorage unit and the voice data registered after registration of thefirst voice data.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the voicestorage unit may obtain and transmit to the exchange voice dataspecified from among two or more pieces of voice data stored thereinduring such an operation that the multi-functional terminal is connectedto the exchange for getting and listening to the voice data on themulti-functional terminal.

Thus the user of the multi-functional terminal can listen to the voicedata specified from among two or more pieces of voice data stored in thevoice storage unit.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the voicestorage unit presents, to the multi-functional terminal, the display ofa list of two or more pieces of voice data stored therein, obtains voicedata specified from the display of the list on the multi-functionalterminal in order of specification, and transmits the obtained voicedata to the exchange.

Thus the user of the multi-functional terminal can refer to the displayof the list of the plural pieces of voice data stored in the voicestorage apparatus to listen to the voice data to which the user wants tolisten in order of specification.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the voicestorage unit presents, to the multi-functional terminal, the display ofa list of two or more pieces of voice data stored therein so that whenthe number of pieces of voice data specified from the display of thelist on the multi-functional terminal is less than the number of piecesof voice data stored in the voice storage unit, the voice data storageunit will obtain the voice data, specified from the display of the liston the multi-functional terminal in order of specification, and thenvoice data that have not been specified, to transmit all the obtainedvoice data to the exchange.

Thus the user of the multi-functional terminal can refer to the displayof the list of the plural pieces of voice data stored in the voicestorage unit to specify voice data to which the user wants to listenearlier.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the exchangefurther includes circuit switching control means for connecting thegeneral telephone terminal with the voice transmission/reception meanswhile a telephone call between the general telephone terminal and theextension telephone terminal is in progress.

Thus the user of the general telephone terminal can listen to voice datastored in the voice storage unit while the telephone call between thegeneral telephone terminal and the extension telephone terminal is inprogress.

1. An intermediate processing apparatus comprising: a call processingpart; a voice data processing unit; a status management part formaintaining the status of said call processing part and said voice dataprocessing unit; and a control part which controls said call processingpart and said voice data processing unit, compares a state enough toexecute a request from an external application program with the statemaintained by said status management part, and if both disaccord,controls said call processing part and said voice data processing partto perform processing for matching both states with each other.
 2. Theintermediate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidcontrol part controls said voice data processing part to store receivedvoice data in an external voice storage unit on the basis of the requestfrom the application program.
 3. The intermediate processing apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein when a general telephone terminal, aportable telephone terminal or a multi-functional terminal including adata communication terminal part connected to a data network and atelephone terminal part connected to a telephone network iscall-connected with an extension telephone terminal by means of saidexchange, and when said intermediate processing apparatus transmits aconnection notification to the application program, and the applicationprogram issues a call recording request to said intermediate processingapparatus on the basis of the connection notification, said control partcompares the request from the application program with the statusmaintained by said status management part to judge whether the requestis executable, and if it is executable, sets a voice path between saidvoice data processing unit and said voice storage unit, or if it is notexecutable, controls said call processing part and said voice dataprocessing part to perform processing until the request becomeexecutable so as to set the voice path between said voice dataprocessing unit and said voice storage unit, whereby voice data receivedvia said exchange is transmitted to said voice storage unit through thevoice path.
 4. The intermediate processing apparatus according to claim2, wherein when a call from a general telephone terminal, a portabletelephone terminal, a multi-functional terminal or an extensiontelephone terminal arrives at said exchange, and when said intermediateprocessing apparatus transmits a call arrival notification to theapplication program, and the application program issues a playbackrequest based on the call arrival notification to said intermediateprocessing apparatus so that a user of the terminal can listen to aplayback of voice data stored in said voice storage unit, said controlpart compares the request from the application program with the statusmaintained by said status management part to judge whether the requestis executable, and if it is executable, sets a voice path between saidvoice data processing unit and said voice storage unit, or if it is notexecutable, controls said call processing part and said voice dataprocessing part to perform processing until the request becomeexecutable so as to set the voice path between said voice dataprocessing unit and said voice storage unit, whereby voice data istransmitted to said terminal, from which a call has arrived at saidexchange, through the voice path, said voice data processing part andsaid exchange.
 5. The intermediate processing apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein when the application program issues a playback requestto said intermediate processing apparatus so that a user can listen, ona required terminal, to voice data stored in said voice storage unit,said control part compares the request from the application program withthe status maintained by said status management part to judge whetherthe request is executable, and if it is executable, sets a voice pathbetween said voice data processing unit and said voice storage unit, orif it is not executable, controls said call processing part and saidvoice data processing part to perform processing until the requestbecome executable so as to set the voice path between said voice dataprocessing unit and said voice storage unit, whereby voice data istransmitted to a general telephone terminal, a portable telephoneterminal, a multi-functional terminal or an extension telephoneterminal, with which said exchange is connected, through the voice path,said voice data processing part and said exchange.
 6. An exchangecomprising: a call control interface for sending information to a callprocessing part of an intermediate processing apparatus; and a voiceinterface for sending information to a voice data processing part of theintermediate processing apparatus including the voice data processingpart, a status management part for maintaining the status of said callprocessing part and said voice data processing part, and a control partwhich controls said call processing part and said voice data processingunit, compares a state enough to execute a request from an externalapplication program with the state maintained by said status managementpart, and if both disaccord, controls said call processing part and saidvoice data processing part to perform processing for matching bothstates with each other.
 7. The exchange according to claim 6, wherein anexternal call supervising/processing unit for supervising callprocessing requests from two or more application programs is connectedto said call control interface, and a voice data processing part of eachintermediate apparatus is directly connected to said voice interface. 8.A telephone voice control system comprising: a multi-functional terminalincluding a data communication terminal part connected to a data networkand a telephone terminal part connected to a telephone network; aninformation notification unit for notifying information to the datanetwork; a circuit switching unit of an exchange, which obtains a callernumber from the telephone network at arrival of a call; a voice storageunit for storing voice data received through said exchange; and anapplication program which controls storage and reading of the voice datainto and from said voice storage unit, wherein said informationnotification unit notifies the data network of the information requestedby said application program, and when said multi-functional terminalthat has obtained the information through the data network makes arequest to the exchange through the telephone network for thetransmission of voice data, the voice data is selected from among voicedata stored in the voice storage unit according to the caller numberobtained at said circuit switching unit so that the voice data will beprovided to said multi-functional terminal.
 9. The telephone voicecontrol system according to claim 8 further comprising an intermediateprocessing unit provided with a call processing part, a voice processingpart, a status management part for maintaining the status of said callprocessing part and said voice processing part, and a control part forcontrolling said call processing part and said voice processing part,wherein when said application program requests said intermediateprocessing unit to store and read voice data, said control part of saidintermediate processing unit compares a state enough to execute therequest from said application program with the status maintained by saidstatus management part, and if both disaccord, requests said callprocessing part and said voice processing part to perform processing formatching both states with each other.
 10. A telephone voice controlsystem comprising: a public cable network; a general telephone terminalconnected to said public cable network; a public radio network; amulti-functional terminal connected to said public radio network; anextension telephone terminal; an exchange provided with voicetransmission/reception means for outputting to the outside voice datacreated resulting from a call between said general telephone terminaland said extension telephone terminal and inputting the voice data fromthe outside so that the voice data will be transmitted to saidmulti-functional terminal, and caller number detection means fordetecting a caller number of said multi-functional terminal at arrivalof the call from said multi-functional terminal; and a voice storageapparatus provided with voice storage means for receiving the voice datafrom said exchange, voice storage/management means for storing the voicedata received by said voice storage means, storage notification means,which when the voice data is completely stored, transmits, to saidmulti-functional terminal, a storage notification in which informationthat enables a connection with said exchange is stored, caller numberstorage means, which maintains a one-to-one correspondence between thecaller number of said multi-functional terminal and the voice datastored in said voice storage/management means, and voice playback means,which when the connection between said multi-functional terminal andsaid exchange is established, obtains the voice data stored in saidstorage/management from the caller number of said multi-functionalterminal input from said caller number transmission means to transmitthe same to said exchange.
 11. The telephone voice control systemaccording to claim 10, wherein when second voice data, created fromanother call that has occurred again between said general telephoneterminal and said extension telephone terminal before saidmulti-functional terminal is connected to said exchange, is stored insaid voice storage/management means, said caller number storage meansmaintains a one-to-one correspondence among the caller number of saidmulti-functional terminal, the voice data stored in said voicestorage/management means and the second voice data, whereby when saidmulti-functional terminal is connected to said exchange, said voiceplayback means performs transmission processing of the second voice dataafter the transmission of the voice data.
 12. The telephone voicecontrol system according to claim 10, wherein said voice playback meansobtains and transmits to said exchange voice data specified during suchan operation that said multi-functional terminal is connected to saidexchange for getting and listening to the voice data on saidmulti-functional terminal.
 13. The telephone voice control systemaccording to claim 10, wherein said voice storage apparatus presents, tosaid multi-functional terminal, the display of a list of voice datastored in said storage/management means, and said voice playback meansobtains, from said storage/management means, the voice data specified bysaid multi-functional terminal from the list so that the voice data willbe played back, and transmits the obtained voice data to said exchange.14. The telephone voice control system according to claim 10, whereinsaid exchange further includes circuit switching control means forconnecting said general telephone terminal with said voicetransmission/reception means while the telephone call between saidgeneral telephone terminal and said extension telephone terminal is inprogress, whereby a user of said general telephone terminal can listento the voice data stored in said voice storage apparatus.
 15. Thetelephone voice control system according to claim 10 further comprisingvoice playback means which, when the number of pieces of voice datastored in said storage/management means is more than the number ofpieces of voice data specified by said multi-functional terminal fromthe list so that the voice data will be played back, obtains the voicedata from said storage means in order of specification made by saidmulti-functional terminal and transmits the same to said exchange beforethe other voice data that have not been specified are played back inorder of storage in said storage/management means.